Improvement



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. BROWN, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN CLEANlNG WOOL ON PELTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,423, dated August5, 1873 application filed July 25, 1873.

To all whom 2'2 may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. BROWN, of Lynn, in the county of Essex andState of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Process of WashingSheep-Skins and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same.

In the ordinary operation of washing sheepskins with the wool on, it iscustomary to let them soak in a tank containing Water or water and lime,and after they become softened to stir them around in order to loosenand free the dirt or other extraneous matter therefrom, after which, ifthe skins are dry and hard, to still further soften them they are thrownover a beam and submitted to what is called the breaking process, inwhich a blade or other instrument is made to pass back and forth overthe inner or flesh side. The skin is next hung up in the sweat-room tofacilitate its fermentation and decomposition, in order thereby to morereadily and completely detach the wool therefrom.

This process is objectionable for the following reasons, viz: Theoperation of washing does not sufficiently remove the dirt from thepelt, and when carried to the sweat-room, unless extreme vigilance isemployed, a gas is generated by the existence of the dirt remaining,which pricks the skin, t". 0., produces small black spots thereon, whichvery much reduces its commercial value, besides which the wool, whendry, is left in a matted and tanglled condition, and requires to bestraightene My invention has for its object to overcome theabove-mentioned difficulties; and consists in a process of washing inwhich one or more streams of water are forced upon the outside of thepelt, t. 0., on its wool side when hung or placed with the head down, orin any other position in which the stream or streams may impinge uponthe pelt in a direction from the tail toward the head, whereby the wateris enabled to thoroughly penetrate and pass through the wool, and comein contact with the surface of the skin, thus removing the foreignmatter calculated to produce gases, and also leaving the wool when dryin a much better condition for the card than by the former process.

Water thus projected upon the pelt is as efficacious in softening theskin as the ordinary process of breaking with the blade or knife, and Iam consequently enabled to economize the time and labor heretoforeexpended in the breaking process, thus effecting a very considerablereduction in the cost of cleansing the skins and wool.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The process of washing sheep-skins by directing a stream or streams ofwater against the wool of the pelt, substantially as herein described.

Witness my hand this 22d day of July, A.

JAMES M. BROWN.

In presence of- S. EDWIN IRESON, GHAs. W. R. FORD.

